Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

December 5, 2023

Near real-time Generative AI art is now possible using LCM-LoRA model

Filed under: Artificial Intelligence,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 6:21 PM

There are a lot of advancements happening in Generative AI and while I don’t agree that we have created intelligence (at least not yet) the advances in the Computer generated art are phenomenal. The most recent one is LCM-LoRA, short for “Latent Consistency Model- Low-Rank Adaptation” developed by researchers at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghua University in China. Their paper LCM-LORA: A Universal Stable-Diffusion Acceleration Module (PDF) has been published on Arxiv.org last week.

This model allows a system to generate an image given a text prompt in near real-time instead of having to wait a few seconds which was the case earlier. So you can modify the prompt as you go and get immediate feedback which can then be used to modify a prompt. You can test it out at Fal.ai

Latent Consistency Models (LCMs) (Luo et al., 2023) have achieved impressive performance in accelerating text-to-image generative tasks, producing high quality images with minimal inference steps. LCMs are distilled from pre-trained latent diffusion models (LDMs), requiring only ∼32 A100 GPU training hours. This report further extends LCMs’ potential in two aspects: First, by applying LoRA distillation to Stable-Diffusion models including SD-V1.5 (Rombach et al., 2022), SSD-1B (Segmind., 2023), and SDXL (Podell et al., 2023), we have expanded LCM’s scope to larger models with significantly less memory consumption, achieving superior image generation quality. Second, we identify the LoRA parameters obtained through LCM distillation as a universal Stable-Diffusion acceleration module, named LCM-LoRA. LCM-LoRA can be directly plugged into various Stable-Diffusion fine-tuned models or LoRAs with-out training, thus representing a universally applicable accelerator for diverse image generation tasks. Compared with previous numerical PF-ODE solvers such as DDIM (Song et al., 2020), DPM-Solver (Lu et al., 2022a;b), LCM-LoRA can be viewed as a plug-in neural PF-ODE solver that possesses strong generalization abilities. Project page: https://github.com/luosiallen/latent-consistency-model.

The technique works not only for 2D images, but 3D assets as well, meaning artists could theoretically quickly create immersive environments instantly for use in mixed reality (AR/VR/XR), computer and video games, and other experiences. I did try going over the paper but a majority of it went over my head. That being said it is fun playing with this tech.

The model doesn’t address the existing issues with AI Art such as how should the artist’s whose art was used as part of the training data sets be compensated, or the issue of copyright infringement as the art is not public art. We also need to start thinking about who would own the copyright to the art generated using AI. There are a few open court cases on this topic but as of now the courts have refused to give any copyright protection to art generated by AI which would make it a non-starter for use in any commercial project such as a movie or game etc.

– Suramya

Source: Realtime generative AI art is here thanks to LCM-LoRA

November 26, 2023

Thoughts of Dr Who and the 60th Anniversary Special

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 8:45 PM

Folks who know me or have been reading this blog frequently know that I am a big fan of Doctor Who and yesterday was the first of the specials made for it’s 60th anniversary. I have been reading Dr Who since around 1992/1993 and watched the first episode around 2000. Then the series relaunched with Rose and the rest is history.

David Tennant nails it again as the Doctor and while the story was not too complicated or involved it was a fun one that didn’t make me want to forward through it. I feel that a lot of the shows/movies etc are going for the dark and gritty reboots/changes and that is something that is good in small doses but not for too long. I watch TV or read a book to get lost in another world. Not to see the same issues up on the big screen as well. This episode was a welcome exception to that trend.

In addition the folks at BBC have also released a new colorized version of the first story featuring the Dalek’s called ‘The Daleks’ with the video cleaned up and new score added etc. I re-watched the episode and it was great. However, the Doctor as shown in the first season was not a very likable person. They were manipulative, arrogant and selfish at the beginning of the show with a very Sexist attitude that mirrors how the world was at that time. Over the decades since then the character has evolved and become much more emphatic and caring. Looking back the way the 12th Doctor behaved was the closest to how the 1st Doctor always acted which could be the reason I never really liked that iteration. Plus there were the ridiculous sonic-sunglasses.

There are a lot of people complaining about the new version and that is ok. They don’t like the direction because a non-white man is going to take over from Tennant and are pitching a hissy-fit over it. I personally am looking forward to the new season and cant wait for it. The best quote for Ncuti Gatwa taking over as the 15th incarnation of the Doctor is from Tom Baker who played the 4th: “Oh! Is this the next Doctor Who? A handsome young man! Marvellous cheekbones. These things are important as you get near to death.”

Some of my other all time favorite quotes from the Doctor :

“Never be cruel. Never be cowardly. Remember, hate is always foolish and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind.” – 12th Doctor
“There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t act childish sometimes.” – 4th Doctor
“You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don’t alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views.” – 4th Doctor
“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” – 11th Doctor
“Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person.” – The 10th Doctor
“You want weapons? We’re in a library! The best weapons in the world!” – The 10th Doctor
“I eat danger for breakfast. I don’t, I prefer cereal. Or croissants.” – The 13th Doctor

– Suramya

November 23, 2023

Watched The Marvels and loved it.

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 12:01 AM

Watched the Marvels today and loved the movie. The reviews and the initial box office returns had made me a little skeptical on how good the movie would be as it has apparently the lowest opening weekend of all Marvel movies ever. I think that this is because there are a vocal group of people who don’t like the idea of a non-white male centric movie and that resulted in a poor opening weekend.

The movie was good and most of the jokes were actually funny and from what I could tell the entire audience loved the movie. The villain of the movie was a bit 1 dimensional their motivations could have been explored more in detail and other than the Marvels not much focus was given to the supporting cast. Even with that though the movie was a fun watch. My Niece Sara who watched it earlier this week apparently loved it because of all the cats in it. So that is another point to consider.

The end credits scene on the other hand was wow! It really opens up the stage for a massive new set of stories and crossovers. So I am looking forward to that.

– Suramya

November 21, 2023

How to get people to spend less time in the toilet

Filed under: Humor,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 3:51 PM

If you have had a roommate who takes ages in the bathroom because they are busy catching up on social media or a company who wants their employees to spend less time on breaks there are a few anti-user designs that people have been pushing over the past few years. Such as a slanted toilet designed to make it painful to sit on for more than 5 minutes and other such hacks.

I have a better way to ensure people are not spending too much time in there. All you have to do is ensure that the Wifi and Mobile data connectivity in there is poor and folks will automatically stop spending too much time in there. This idea came to me when I was stuck in such a restroom with very limited cellphone coverage and poor wifi signal.

Obviously this is a joke post not meant to be taken seriously so please don’t do this to your workers. 🙂 Yes, I am zonked out due to all the travel I have been doing. Why do you ask?

– Suramya

November 6, 2023

Don’t make interview candidates wait 1 hour as the “filtering” method

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 12:01 AM

The following post on Quora caught my eye earlier where this person asks that their boss purposely makes every candidate wait one hour past the scheduled interview time as a filtering method and if that was legal.

My boss purposely makes all interview candidates wait 1 hour past the scheduled interview time. This is their “filtering” method, as they refuse to consider anyone who leaves during the 1+ hour wait. Is this legal? by Patrick O’Neill

I am pretty sure this is legal but it is extremely unprofessional and a major red flag for people working under/with this boss. They don’t care for the candidates time and wasting it like this doesn’t show/prove dedication. Someone could have scheduled an interview during their lunch hour or they might have booked a babysitter so that they can come in for an interview. By wasting time like this, you don’t know how you are impacting their schedule and plans. Unfortunately, too many people think that the only thing people should care about is working and the more time they spend at office the better it is.

This is especially true in the Startups where people joining are expected to put in insane hours. I have worked with a lot of startups both as an employee and as part of the various incubator programs, I remember one startup owner that proudly told me that they ask their candidates if they are ok to work 7 days a week without exception and reject anyone who says no because they should be as dedicated to the company as the owner was. So I asked them if they are also going to get a part of the profit that the company makes and they responded with an empathetic NO! When you are not going to share the profits the owner is making then why would the employee work the same hours as you? You need to give them the same incentives if you expect the same amount of effort 🙂

For the most of my carrier I have had great managers and bosses who respect peoples time. I have been scolded about logging in during late nights and over the weekend unless there was something urgent that needed to be done. If I was in a situation like this, I would normally ask for a reschedule after about 30 mins, if it was a phone interview I would drop after 15 mins and send an email stating that the panel didn’t join.

People who this kind of screening are the ones who will call you on Saturday at 10pm and expect that you drop everything and come to the office for work. People do have a life outside work and we need to respect that. If there is an emergency, absolutely call me at anytime and I will log in (if I can). But for BAU (Business As Usual) work that can wait, you shouldn’t be calling.

– Suramya

October 30, 2023

Sari as a Halloween costume? Why not if done tastefully

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 10:16 AM

Using images/costumes/concepts from another culture as a sort of fancy dress can be a tricky thing and if done incorrectly it can be incredibly offensive but if done with the right attitude and respect it can be awesome. Whenever we travel if there is an opportunity to dress up in the local dress, try the local food etc we both jump on it as it is a way to experience the local culture.

The following was posted in one of the Groups I am part of:


Would you mind if someone wore a sari as a costume to a Halloween Party?

My answer to that is that if it is done in a respectful manner then why not? On the other hand if the person wearing it is playing on the stereotypes and negative connotations then they should be called out on it. You can easily figure out what the person wearing the dress is trying to portray and depending on that they should be called out if needed. Do note that there are times when people will unintentionally make a faux-pas or propagate stereotypes and that should be handled differently by explaining to them why something is not appropriate.

If you are planning on wearing something from a different tradition, you should think about asking a native from that tradition if something is appropriate or not. I have answered multiple questions on Indian ethnic wear when I was in the US and while visiting other countries. If you don’t know anyone from that culture you should do a basic search on the internet to understand/check if a particular costume is ok.

What I find interesting is that in a lot of these cases, the native (people from the original culture) are ok with folks dressing up in their traditional wear but there will be a bunch of people (usually white) who will claim that this is cultural appropriation and create a fuss.

I am not saying that cultural appropriation is not a big problem (It is) but the solution to that is not gatekeeping and stopping people from exploring other cultures.

– Suramya

October 29, 2023

What Happens to a Werewolf if they are on the Moon?

Filed under: Interesting Sites,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 12:15 AM

@SpeakerToManagers shared a very interesting link on Mastodon where Scientific American’s researchers talk about What Happens to a Werewolf on the Moon? assuming a reality where Werewolves are real.

On the other paw, shortly after the monthly sunrise, the entire landscape surrounding our future lycanaut will be lit by the sun, which could then trigger the change; from their view, the entire moon would be illuminated, so it would be, by some definition, full. This could mean that the danger would be hugely amplified because the transformation wouldn’t last a mere terrestrial night but an entire lunar day, which is two weeks in duration. The carnage would be literally unearthly.

The questions raised where quite fun and it is an interesting what if question.

– Suramya

October 27, 2023

Tech Bro discovers Hanging out

Filed under: Humor,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 10:58 AM

The more I read about these so called geniuses or TechBro’s as they are called, the more I feel that they are living in their own fantasy world with little to no contact with the actual real world. Take the following as an example:


Tech Bro discovers Hanging out

What he is describing in fancy words is a group of friends hanging out, something that I have been doing since the late 80’s and others have been doing for millennia. Other such geniuses have re-invented the bus, dorms, Roommates etc etc etc.

They are so out of touch and surrounded by yes-men that they think they are the world’s smartest and have the cure for all ills. Not realized that they are just regurgitating fixes for problems that have been solved for years or rebranding things people have been doing for ages.

– Suramya

October 26, 2023

Its ok to ask questions about basic stuff that ‘everyone’ knows about

Filed under: My Thoughts,Tech Related — Suramya @ 12:12 PM

There is a well known meme where people talk about how the questions they asked were ‘cringe’ and make fun of the questions people ask. One such example is the comic below that showed up in my feed. Here the refrain is that having to read all the questions that someone has posted on Google/ChatGPT about programming is equivalent to Torturing them because of the implication being that the questions were so basic that everyone should know the answer to them. I get that people are trying to be funny but there is a problem with these kinds of posts because it actively discourages people from asking questions, it builds the narrative that people who post ‘stupid’ questions are not smart and their questions are cringe. It actively promotes the imposter syndrome because people start thinking that they don’t know much when they have to search for ‘basic’ stuff.


Let the torture commence. Let’s reveal all the coding related questions you asked on Google and ChatGPT

Instead I prefer the XKCD approach called the 10,000.


In this strip, Randall presents a mathematical argument against the idea of making fun of people for their ignorance.

There are so many things that I know that others don’t, just as there are so many things that you know that I don’t know. This is because each of us has different life experiences/upbringing etc. Expecting everyone to know the same things as you do is super egoistical.

I have been a developer for about 25+ years now and still I look up syntax when I am coding. Knowing the proper syntax for a command doesn’t make you a programmer, knowing what command/logic to use is what makes a programmer. I can always look up the syntax but the basic logic to solve the problem is something that I have to come up with and that is what I usually test when interviewing people. I need people who can solve problems not someone who can regurgitate the syntax for a function in C++/Python.

When I was in high-school (10th Standard) my senior project was to create an address book where we used the locate command quite extensively to make the output pretty (this was in GW-BASIC). So in my preboard exams, during the viva I was asked to give the syntax of the locate command. I always got confused on the parameters for this function and couldn’t remember if it was LOCATE [row][,[col] or LOCATE [col],[row]. I guessed and gave the wrong order so the teacher told me that she doubted that I had coded the program as I didn’t even know the syntax of the command. I responded by telling her that I don’t need to remember the syntax because I can refer to the book when I need to know the syntax but the logic of the program is what I focused on and challenged her to quiz me on that. I remember she was pretty taken aback by this and I did get a good score on the viva but she told me not to be so blunt during the actual board exam viva’s.

I have sat in meetings where people have talked about concepts or used examples I had no clue about and sometimes I would interrupt to ask for clarifications and in other times I would make a note and do lot of research before the next meeting so I understood what we were talking about. I am not saying that people shouldn’t do research or put in effort before asking questions. I am saying that we need to be supportive of new comers into the field who don’t have the experience to know all the things that might be obvious to you. In the past I used to refer folks to the How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Steven Raymond & Rick Moen when I talked about how to ask questions. However as I have gotten older and more experienced I find that while the FAQ has some good points it is absolutely condescending and not really the right approach to asking questions. So Instead of that I now refer people to Julia Evan’s post on How to ask good questions.


How to ask Good Questions

Teaching people that it is ok to ask questions is an important part of being a mentor and training the next generation.

– Suramya

October 25, 2023

Pepper X crowned the new hottest pepper in the world by Guinness World Records

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 12:42 AM

There is a new chili in town that has wrested the crown for the spiciest chili in the world from Carolina Reaper which was the previous record holder. Ed Currie, the creator of Carolina Reaper outdid themselves and after a decade of effort created Pepper X. Pepper X measures an average of 2.693 million Scoville Heat Units whereas the Carolina Reaper averaged ~1.64 million SHUs. Since the Scoville scale is logarithmic that translates to it being three times hotter than a Reaper.

I really really want to try it, but considering that the reaper was almost too spicy for me to eat, not sure if it is a good idea 🙂 When I told Jani about this, she told me that I was crazy to want to eat this and to stay away from her if I am eating the chili.

Although I don’t think I would ever want to eat the chili raw, instead I would make it into a pickle and then eat it just like what I do with the bhut jolokia (Ghost Pepper) which used to be the spiciest chili in the world till 2017 and is now the 4th spiciest chili in the world. Every time anyone I know goes to North East India I ask them to get me some of it which I then send to my mom to make into my favorite pickle. (Indian Pickle not the US Pickle)

I wonder if I can get someone to carry it from the US for me. Not sure that will be allowed because of the bio containment rules. Unless I get it in a dried/powered version which is usually not that good. But lets see…

Source: BBC: Guinness World Records crowns new hottest pepper

– Suramya

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